1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device for exerting a lifting force upon the spine or chest of a user in order to increase and decrease the lordosis of the spine as a means of therapy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Three basic categories of machines have been patented for exerting force upon the spine of a patient. These consist of chiropractic tables wherein a central portion is mechanically raised and lowered (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,998,218, which employs a stationary tubular jack housing having a smaller tube mounted inside and pushed upward by a screw member to raise the central portion of the chiropractic table, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,741, which utilizes a drive mechanism that is preferably a hydraulically driven piston to elevate the central portion of the chiropractic table.); tables where both extremities can be raised and lowered mechanically (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,500,002, which utilizes cams and push rods to raise the extremities while a central portion of the table remains stationary, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,835, which employs linear actuators to extend or retract telescopic tubes to raise the first and second ends of a table which has no central portion.); and inflatable bladders that raise and lower cushions.
The simplest of the devices employing an inflatable bladder is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,827. A bladder is placed upon a support and covered by a flexible, compressible layer such as foam rubber; the bladder has an air inlet/outlet and is inflated manually. The air inlet/outlet is disclosed to have xe2x80x9can inside diameter of about one-fourth of an inch,xe2x80x9d which would not facilitate rapid inflation and deflation. This is, however, logical in view of the fact that the disclosed operation of the device does not involve any cycling, only inflation to a desired extent.
Similarly, the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,310 consists of a head rest, a lumbar rest, and a bottom rest, each of the rests having two inflation chambers that, in an unspecified manner, are xe2x80x9cadjusted to adapt to the curve of the spine of the user.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,841 involves two inflatable bladders. Each bladder is mounted onto a support of a surrounding frame that resembles the structure of an external-frame backpack. One bladder is intended to extend against the cervical spine of a user; the other bladder, against the lumbar spine. The head of a user is strapped onto the frame; and the bladders are inflated with a manual air pump, an electrical air pump, or a blower. Each bladder, according to lines 13 through 16 of column 5 and lines 24 through 26 of column 7, is preferably so shaped (or preferably placed in a casing so shaped, according to lines 30 through 44 of column 5) that expansion upon inflation will be slightly greater toward the user than in a transverse direction. It appears, from lines 10 through 22 of column 6, that each bladder is inflated to a desired degree, depending upon the tolerance of the user, and subsequently completely deflated. There is no discussion of partial deflation. Nor is there an explanation of the rate of deflation. And inflation, according to line 10 of column 6, occurs xe2x80x9cslowly.xe2x80x9d
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,226 is a parent of No. 5,713,841 and dealt only with the portion of the device associated with use on the cervical spine.
As with U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,827, the device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,131 could be used by one who is supine; but, although stating that the device could be used xe2x80x9cwhile seated or supine,xe2x80x9d U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,131 only explicitly discloses use in the seated position. Lines 53 through 59 in column 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,131 explain that the invention consists of xe2x80x9c . . . a fluid-inflatable bag, a source of fluid under pressure, a conduit adapted to conduct the fluid between the source and the bag, and a regulator adapted for controlling the flow of the fluid in the conduit and the pressure in the bag.xe2x80x9d Air is provided by an electrically powered air pump. The air bag can collapse until it is fully deflated or until the time for the deflation interval has elapsed. Lines 18 through 30 of column 7 indicate that the user can select the input flow rate for air, the inflation interval, and the deflation interval. But, according to lines 10 through 11 of column 4, xe2x80x9cThe apparatus . . . runs automatically once the desired settings are made . . . xe2x80x9d When the user is in a supine position, the support afforded to the user by the air bag is, however, unfortunately unstable.
A manually inflatable bladder that may be attached to a bench (with an xe2x80x9cadhesive, a . . . belt, . . . snap-fasteners, or mating elements of hook and loop fabric fastener material such as sold under the Registered Trademark VELCROxe2x80x9d) to support the spine of a supine weightlifter is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,109. Optionally, the bladder can be mounted on a carriage that moves longitudinally along the bench.
The Spinal Therapy Machine constituting the present invention utilizes a bladder to create the desired lardosis in the spine of the user but, by encircling the bladder with a rigid restraint that is slidably attached to two posts extending generally perpendicular to the structure upon which the bladder is mounted, both directs that the expansion of the bladder will be directed upward from the surface on which the bladder has been placed and stabilizes the bladder.
A vacuum motor is utilized to inflate the bladder. The motor operates continuously to maintain the inflation of the bladder. The blade or blades of this vacuum motor spin faster when a greater voltage is applied to the motor. The faster the blade or blades are spinning, the greater the air pressure required to cause the blades to stall. Therefore, the greater the voltage that is applied to the motor, the higher the bladder will rise.
The vacuum motor facilitates rapid inflation and deflation of the bladder as also does the use of a large-diameter tube between the vacuum motor and the bladder. Since air can travel to or from the bladder through the tube and the vacuum motor, no exhaust port is needed to supplement an input port in the bladder. And because the vacuum motor spins incrementally faster with an incremental increase in voltage, the rate of spin is continuously variable. With an appropriate control unit, this variation in rate of spin and, consequently, the degree of inflation and height for the bladder is subject to essentially an infinite number of almost instantaneous adjustments.
And the control that is provided permits the user, himself or herself, to adjust the degree of inflation while utilizing the Spinal Therapy Machine. Alternately, the desired inflation and deflation can be programmed into a computer.
Finally, different cushions can be removably attached to the bladder to enable the Spinal Therapy Machine to be used for different techniques, such as having the user in either a prone or a supine position.